The Troth as an organization emerged from the ashes of the Asatru Free Assembly (AFA) founded by Stephen A. McNallen in 1974, which itself started as the Viking Brotherhood. The AFA was a white nationalists organization that espoused that one's ethnic heritage was linked to the religion they practiced, which means, only white people can practice Germanic paganism. Infighting and disagreements within the organization caused the AFA to cease.

The Ring of Troth (RoT) was founded by Edred Thorsson (Dr. Stephen E. Flowers) and James Chisholm on December 20, 1987. Unlike McNallen's version of Norse paganism, The Ring of Troth was an inclusive organization, whose purpose was to be "a politically neutral refuge which would be focused on scholarship, clergy training and publications." RoT was modeled after the "Norse word rót, meaning 'root': the roots of new growth for the old ways."

Soon after the Ring of Troth's establishment, it met with a new scandal when it was made known Thorsson was connected to the Temple of Set, a New Religious Movement that splintered off from the Church of Satan. With accusations that Satanists were trying to take over, Thorsson stepped down and Prudence Priest became the new Steerswoman at Ostara 1992 (see MS/150/27 for Prudence Priest's Collection).

Prudence Priest was a great choice for Steerswoman as her Freya's Folk was an inclusive Hearth that gained approval in 1990. Under Priest's leadership, the Ring of Troth saw recognizable growth and reforms. Priest's Steership also moved the center of the organization from Texas to Northern California. Despite Priest's successes, membership was not happy with how leadership was selected. The Rede was appointed by the members of the Rede rather than elected. This led to Priest's having a "vote of no confidence" by the Rede and she was forced to resign March 8, 1995. Edred Thorsson said he would step in with the aim of returning the Ring of Troth to its original structure, but the Rede was not unanimous that this was a good idea, which left The Ring of Troth leaderless and unstable for a short period. It would not see stability again until 1997 when William Bainbridge became Steersman.

Over the years, cultural shifts have inpacted the Troth forcing the organization to undergo continual evolution.